Couple Shares Tale of Being Left in Mexico by Royal Caribbean During Medical Emergency

When Carol Palk noticed blood in her stool while sailing on the Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas cruise ship last month, she suspected that she may have been suffering from a bleeding ulcer. Concerned, she visited the ship’s infirmary for help. Palk was not able to see a doctor that day due to an excess of patients, and so returned the next day. That is when she discovered that she may have been suffering from a more serious medical condition, one which the cruise ship doctors were not equipped to handle. Bertram says that she was then ordered off the ship.

79-year-old Palk told Yahoo! Lifestyle that she and her husband were told to disembark at Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico, two days before the ship returned to the United States. “They rushed off us with our bags and me in a wheelchair,” she said, adding that a Royal Caribbean concierge promised to help the couple make travel arrangements to get back home.

The couple was told to take a five hour taxi ride through Mexico, from Puerto Costa Maya to Cancun (at a cost of $600), then fly to Mexico City, and then to Miami. The couple made the harrowing journey, which Yahoo! Lifestyle reports was so frightening that Carol’s husband penned a second will while en route.

In the end, Carol and her husband Bertram returned to New Jersey a day earlier than their scheduled arrival date. Carol received the medical treatment she needed, and is now recovering. The couple says that the ordeal cost them $3,5000, of which just $1,300 was covered by travel insurance.

After the disrespectful treatment of the couple, Royal Caribbean offered them a $314 credit and a voucher redeemable for 20% off a future cruise.

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